Attack on Titan: Eren Yaeger (ESFP)

Se:

“We’re born free, all of us. Free. Some don’t believe it. Some try to take it away. To h**l with them! …Fight to live! Risk it all for even a glimmer of real freedom!”

“We live in a cage. All we do is eat and sleep.”

“What’s the problem? Don’t think about it. Just come on.”

“Simple answers are for children. Only way to learn is by doing.”

Eren desires freedom above all else, which is a dominant extraverted perceiving theme (Ne or Se). He sees the walls as one giant cage that he’s determined to escape, even though they represent safety. From a young age, he determines to join the Scouts, so he can explore beyond the walls and fight for their right to live. For the rest of the series, this desire for freedom drives his actions.

Eren is extremely action-oriented, willing to take risks whenever necessary. During the first attack on Trost, Eren, as a newly graduated Cadet, is the first one to react and rush in on the attacking Titan, while everyone else is frozen. He demonstrates similar behavior as a child, when he rushes off to save Mikasa without waiting for his father. His father berates him later for throwing caution to the wind. His impulsive nature often gets him in trouble as a child, and even an adult, as he starts fight after fight in the heat of the moment.

Eren believes in always moving forward, and never giving up. He’s not one to overthink. He expresses this plainly when him and his father are offering to take Mikasa in. When seeing her hesitate, he says, “What’s the problem? Don’t think about it. Just come on.” Similarly, Eren thinks that the only way to learn is by doing. This all further supports the fact that his focus is primarily on the objective world (as an extraverted lead), and demonstrates his desire to physically interact with the world around him as a means to take in information.

Fi:

“Check your emotions, Eren. Learn the meaning of the word ‘restraint’. If you let yourself succumb to blind rage, all hope is lost. We can’t afford another mistake.” – Levi to Eren

“Why can’t people just let us dream?”

“Do you seriously believe I’d euthanize the Eldean people? What kind of person do you take me for? I would never go along with that repulsive plan!”

“Just shut up! And put all your faith in me!”

Eren’s Fi is easy to see, provoking many to type him as a Fi dominant. However, part of the reason that is Fi is easy to see is because he is extraverted. As someone who displays clear Se evidence (ruling out the NFPs), ESFP fits far better than ISFP. Eren is too demonstrative and too belligerent. He’s quick to speak, quick to preach, and quick to act. He does not possess a “quiet” sense of self.

Eren’s values surface often, as mentioned in the first paragraph. A good example of them can be seen when he confronts Annie. He says, “It was obvious you were a liar. Fighting’s your whole world, but what exactly are you fighting for? What could possibly have been worth all this death and destruction?” He often questions the values of others, and tries to empathize with them. When dealing with Reiner, he acts similarly. At one point, he tells Reiner that they are “the same”, and at another, he tells Reiner: “You were my hero.” This also demonstrates his Fi ideals.

Eren is idealistic and a dreamer, in the way many Fi users are. The very first episode of the series makes this clear. He sees a certain ideal way that things should be and fights to achieve those ideals, whether that be by berating the guards around him or joining the Scouts. He gets angry at those who try to discourage him from staying true to himself in this way. In addition, Eren gets offended when people believe that he’s actually the type of person who’d be okay with Zeke’s plan, to euthanize the Eldean people.

Lastly, Eren is driven by his emotions, prone to using that emotion as fuel and losing himself to rage. (This is a common Se + Fi tendency.) Levi warns him about this, telling him to learn restraint.

Te:

“You just go do your job, and I’ll do mine.”

“I’ll just keep moving forward until I’ve killed my enemies.”

Eren has fairly prominent Te throughout the series, although it goes into overdrive in the final season. Right from the beginning, he’s assertive and persistent, especially when it comes to his values. He’s prone to telling others what they should or should not do, essentially attempting to control his external environment. His abrasive nature in addition to his impulsiveness often get him in trouble.

The final season displays Eren’s Te most prominently. Although he spends the entire series knowing exactly what his ideals are, Eren at some point realizes that he has the power to achieve them absolutely. He then dips into the extreme nature of Te, and decides to force the world to bend to his will. He gets especially cold during this period, trying to sever his friendships with Mikasa and Armin. Eren gets extremely blunt with them, criticizing their shortcomings and claiming they are slaves. He goes on to say that he finds that repulsive, and that he can’t stand the sight of them.

Lastly, an example of his Te specifically being low can be seen in his struggle to accept the idea that his friends might have betrayed them. On multiple instances, his friends and comrades present evidence or logic, which Eren attempts to deny vehemently. Others (like Mikasa) usually have to reason with Eren to get him to even consider it, because he wants to give his friends the benefit of the doubt. However, the moment he finally comes to terms with their betrayal, Eren usually flies into a blind rage, determined to punish them for their actions.

Ni:

Throughout the show, we see several instances of Eren’s weak Ni. He has a tendency to rush into things without giving much thought to what the consequences of said actions will be. Even his dream of escaping the walls and going to the sea are not his own, but instead something he borrowed from Armin. Adopting Armin’s vision as his own can be an indicator of inferior Ni, since he essentially took a shortcut rather than putting in the work to form his own vision.

Freedom is Eren’s primary motivator, but the way that he goes about trying to obtain that freedom is mostly centered around what he can accomplish in the immediate moment. He recklessly infiltrates Marley all on his own and makes a gamble that he would be able to get letters out to inform the Scouts of his whereabouts and plan. He also just assumes they will come and rescue him because of his importance as the Founding Titan.

Furthermore, he leaves them little time to devise any kind of plan or proper rescue mission. As a result, they immediately arrest him after they save him and label him as a traitor. His ultimate short-sighted action comes at the end of the series when he decides that in order to be truly free he must eradicate the rest of mankind.